Primevere

One of my very favourite wild flowers, one that can be seen in abundance at this time of year alongside the many hedgerows and grassy banks is the beautiful and cheerful Cowslip. The robust looking plant is actually made up of many tiny little yellow flowers and its beauty is only fully realised when you take a much closer look, its intricate lines and fragile petals dazzling in the Spring sunshine, never failing to impress even on a grey and overcast day.

I wanted to capture my feelings for this little flowering beauty in a photograph and felt that by focussing on an individual flower amongst the many that adorn each plant was the best way for me to do so. Using a Nikon D3s, tripod and cable release, and a high magnification selective blur macro lens I feel that I managed to achieve my goal and capture the true essence of this lovely little wild flower ... the Primevere as it is known in France.

Beautiful Cowslip

Bluebells

Spring is such a beautiful time of year, everything is bursting into life. Birds building their nests, blossom on the trees, and Spring flowers emerging from the ground. Probably the most iconic of our Spring flowers has to be the beautiful  and fragile Bluebell. Who can resist a walk along a winding path through a deciduous woodland on a warm Spring day, the leaves and branches scattering light across the floor, a shock of blue as far as the eye can see. It's a truly spectacular sight, and one that you never tire of. There are many images of such magnificent scenes but this year I thought I would try something a little different. I wanted to isolate an individual flower or two but still portray them as they are to be found, amongst the grass jostling for position along with the tens of thousands of others.

I shot using a Nikon D4, Nikkor 105mm F2.8 macro lens, tripod and cable release. I tried to isolate individual plants, which was quite tricky as they grow so close to each other, and I also wanted to show them as part of a much larger group whilst maintaining the focal point of an individual plant. The deep green of the grass worked well with the blue of the flower and it was interesting to see the way the light affected the blue, turning it a light purple colour at times whenever the sun caught it. It was also amazing to see just how many insects use the plants as their home. Many tiny spiders could be seen, their intricate webs sparkling in the low sun. There was a slight breeze and because I was shooting so close to the subject, an aperture of F11 or greater was needed to give me any kind of depth of field, resulting in a slow shutter speed at base ISO. The only answer was to boost the ISO to 800. No problem for the D4, images are clean at this sensitivity and it gave me peace of mind knowing that I would freeze any movement in the subject should it arise. 

Bluebells in the sun

The sun shines down on this one plant, the deep blue of the flower becoming a paler sky blue as it becomes almost transluscent. 

Bluebells and Cobwebs

The Bluebells in the background are lit up by the low setting sun, clearly showing the way the light affects the colour of the flowers. Threads of a spider's web glint in the low light of the main subject.

       

Delicate Bluebells

My favourite image from the set, taken a couple of days before the others, under a leaden sky. I love the slightly sombre feeling to the image, the deep bluey purple of the flowers contrasting nicely against the grass in which the plant grows.

New Website

The new website is finally up and running. Run by Emma and myself 'Saltmarsh and Samphire' offer one and two day photography workshops along the beautiful North Norfolk Coast, with the option of bed and breakfast accommodation and the use of one of the famous Wells-Next-The-Sea beach huts.

Please click on the link for more information.  http://www.saltmarshandsamphire.co.uk/ or to book a place on one of our courses.

View from the beach hut

Restoration of Cley Windmill

During late February and early March I was asked along with Emma to photograph the restoration work of Cley Windmill at Cley-Next-The-Sea on the North Norfolk Coast. The work was a big undertaking, spanning three weeks, many man hours and the hiring of two large cranes which both managed to dwarf the windmill. Work like this hadn't been carried out since the mid 1980's so the sails and fantail were in much need of attention.

The first part of the renovation work, which lasted a week in itself was the removal of the fantail and base. The new wooden base was hoisted into position at the same time as the old structure was dismantled and lowered, but the fantail was taken away where it was overhauled and given a fresh lick of paint.

New parts being delivered by crane

The old fantail being removed ready for renovation

View from the ground

The next part of the renovation was the removal of the old wooden sails. Once these parts were taken away from the supporting structure, the windmill looked slightly odd, the classic lines and shape were missing. This was rectified with the arrival and fitting of the new wooden sails, the last part of the jigsaw.

One of the large cranes which dominated the skyline

The final day of work as the sails were carefully moved back into position drew quite a crowd, even a local TV crew, and it was quite a sight to behold as it was all put back together, hopefully to last another twenty to thirty years.    

The renovated windmill at Cley

Nikon EM

The second half of the Twelve Months Of Film project begins with camera number seven, the Nikon EM.

The EM was a slight change in direction at the time for Nikon as it was a camera aimed more at the beginner just getting into SLR photography. It was a semi automatic camera where the user selected the aperture and the camera chose the shutter speed which it thought was correct. Designed to be small and light, the outer shell was of plastic construction which covered a copper aluminium alloy body. This differed quite radically from the models that Nikon had produced previously which were solid, heavy cameras aimed more at the serious amateur and professional markets. That's not to say that this camera isn't tough. It's actually great in the hand and feels plenty rugged enough, just maybe not quite as tough as other Nikon models of the same era. Nikon wanted to go after the market that Canon, Minolta, Pentax and Olympus had moved in to and the EM fitted the bill nicely being manufactured by Nippon Kogaku K.K. from 1979 through 1982.

Fairly simple to set up and use, there is an A.S.A. dial on the left hand side of the body with the shutter button and three way selector switch on the right hand side. The three way switch could either be set to auto, bulb or M90. The last setting, M90, was useful if the battery were to die whilst in the field. It allowed for the camera's shutter to fire at a speed of 1/90sec, just without a light meter to aid exposure. The shutter on my project example sounds positive on release and it's a fun camera to carry around and use being so small and light. I have two of them. The one used for the month's project had a slightly dodgy light meter and at times was a bit erratic, but most of the exposed film came out fine. Since the shoot I managed to pick up another mint example, light meter works great and it even makes the audible beep, warning the user of a potentially slow shutter speed. I used the EM with a Nikkor 50mm f1.8D lens which fits the camera well and makes for a great combination.

The small but well proportioned Nikon EM

Nikon EM top view

The three way switch and shutter button

ASA dial

The Nikkor 50mm f1.8D lens  

The sexy little Nikon EM

 

Rope at Wells Quay

Ilex House

Reeds at Cley 

Harbour Office at Wells

Old Boat at Brancaster

Old and New at Brancaster

Spring is here!

Walking along the coast when the weather starts to get a bit better and Winter loosens its icy grip, the days turning far more Springlike, can be a real joy. So can walking around without the big and heavy DSLR gear I normally use on a day to day basis. I like to travel light on such days and normally opt for the Fuji X100 and maybe a film SLR, both fitting comfortably in my ONA Union Street camera bag, ( a review of which in the not too distant future)

Calm at Wells-Next-The-Sea

When the weather is so calm in the harbour at Wells-Next-The-Sea you often get lovely reflections, all of which are just begging to be photographed. When taking these images look for some great lead in lines which will help the viewers eye travel throughout the frame. Images like the one above make for great stock photographs as they are very inviting, blue skies and calm water make for a tranquil photo and can sell regularly to big stock companies. 

Brooding clouds at High Tide

The tidal level changes very quickly along the coast and as a photographer you don't want to get caught out by this and be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Always check the tide times before venturing out for the day and if for some reason you don't have them to hand play it safe and stick to the paths and car parks.

A link to the tide times across the U.K. can be found here -  http://www.tidetimes.org.uk/

Flower Girls

Last Saturday I was second shooting at a wedding in Hull. It was a lovely day, quite warm with some lovely hazy sunshine. I was helping to take some of the more posed portraits and this is one of my favourites. The two flower girls looked lovely in their dresses holding flower baskets filled to the brim with petals. When I asked if I could take their photo they jumped at the chance. With the help of an assistant who held a reflector which bounced some much needed light back towards the girls, I moved back a distance of about 30 feet with my Nikon D4 and 70-200mm F2.8 lens, set the aperture at F4, composed the shot and released the shutter. I decided to use a shallow depth of field to help isolate the girls from the background which had a bit of the usual street clutter going on, cars, people, bins e.t.c. The finished image whilst obviously posed looks completely natural and I hope it's an image the girls will treasure for many years to come.    

Flower Girls